Volunteering With Us

Thank you for taking the time to visit our volunteers page.

Surviving Christmas are a local charity based in Hastings supporting vulnerable people and families in the Hastings, Bexhill and surrounding area at Christmas and it’s the support of our volunteers that enable this to happen.

There are many reasons people choose to help us and for many of our volunteers this has become a regular event as they find themselves coming back year after year.

Volunteer Application Form

If you can contribute in any way, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

What Help Do We Need?

Hampers and Two Day Event

Befriending – this is probably one of our most important jobs. Taking time to simply sit quietly with our guests. Talking to them and taking time to listen to what they have to say

Hosting – engaging with our guests throughout the 2 day event and answering their queries and directing them to the appropriate areas within the venue

Clothing store – sorting and assisting with restocking the clothing as well as distributing it at the two day open event

Hamper Packing– packing over 600 hampers to be delivered to recipients in Hastings, Bexhill and surrounding areas

Hamper Delivery –drivers are needed to deliver the packed hampers to the recipients. You will need a current driving licence and be able to drive a transit van

Tea Bars – help is required with our two tea bars which serve hot and cold drinks as well as snacks.

Catering – hot and cold food preparation is needed for the two day event. Volunteers for this section will need catering experience, and be able to demonstrate that they have a current food hygiene

Serving/Clearing up – help is needed to help serve food to our guests and clear/wash up the dishes at the two day event

Entertainment – we aim to provide entertainment throughout the 2 day event and any volunteers with any specific talents are more than welcome to take part

Running errands – help required on all dates for general tasks

Space and timescales for some roles can be limited therefore we may allocate you to areas you haven’t requested to work in as suits the project. If you have a concern with this or are unable to work in a specific role please let us know. We want your time with us to be fun.

Food and refreshments are available for volunteers throughout.

Year-round Help

Don’t worry if you aren’t able to commit time to us over the Christmas period. There are other ways you can still get involved.Here are just a few examples.

Fundraising – getting sponsored to complete a challenge or holding a bake sale is a fun way of helping us to raise money and raising awareness of what we do.

Collecting money at events – As a local charity it is important to us that we take part in events that take place within the community and having
people there to collect donations for us is really helpful.

Being an ambassador – Are you good at speaking to people? We welcome those who will talk to people about our work.

Food collections – In the run up to Christmas we provide a visible presence at local supermarkets letting people know what food items are needed for our hampers and asking them to consider donating to us.

Our volunteers are extremely important to us but we understand that sometimes other commitments crop up. If you have offered to volunteer and are no longer able to commit we ask that you advise us in good time.